Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
to a common dimension. Some finely built log houses
in the East, with four hewn faces, reflected the
builders' European and Scandinavian backgrounds.
I prefer the broadaxe over the adze, which is more
of a finishing tool. As far as I know, nobody manufac-
tures these axes now, except for some rare and expen-
sive hand-forged collector's items. They can still be
had for a price at junk shops and antique sales. The
axe head can be handled for right or left use, and these
handles
are
different.
To hew, you stand alongside the log with the flat
side of the axe to the wood, and it's on the same side
with you, very close to your toes. Your knuckles also
take a beating unless the axe handle is bent away from
the log. So, with the bend away from the flat side, that
means a different handle if you're left- or right-handed.
Novices usually devise their own variations of the
basic straight-down swing, but anyone who does
much axework soon returns to it. Years ago I thought
I'd discovered something by using a right-handed
axe at a 45-degree angle, hewing on the other side of
the log with my left-handed swing. I soon abandoned
that strenuous game, and I suggest you forget such
variations. The heavy axe is more efficient used
straight down with gravity working for you instead of
against you.
A good man often hewed a dozen logs a day using
the old method, and lived. I hew two or three, then
find something else to do for a while. A good day's
work for tie-hackers was also about a dozen a day,
hewed on four sides but only eight feet long. I hear
tales of hackers turning out 20 ties a day, but I would
have to see it myself.
Craftsman Wilson McIvor helped us adze the faces of these huge sawn
poplar logs for a new log house near Nashville, Tennessee. These logs
were as wide as 34 inches.
First, score-hack the log down one side, every six
inches or so with an axe. You can stand on the log for
this, or chop from alongside, avoiding your kneecap.
Some hewers snap a chalk line along the log as a
guide and hew to the line after they've scored to it first.
Most logs aren't straight enough to make this easy, so
other hewers sort of chop a line in the bark. I just eye-
ball it and make a second pass to take out humps.
You'll need two passes at the thick butt end anyway.
You can also chainsaw these scores to a snapped
chalk line. Master craftsman Peter Gott, in North
Carolina does this neatly and efficiently. I have always
eyed my logs, and chopped more than sawed. Then
there are a couple of ways to go. One calls for splitting
out the chunks, or “juggles,” with the plain axe (poll
axe, felling axe, “choppin” axe) then making a pass
with the broadaxe. I score deeply, making a notch if
necessary, then slice off the juggles with the broadaxe.
Either way, you eventually assume the broadaxe
stance, swing straight down to hit the log at about
45 degrees, and cut off everything that doesn't look
like a hewn log. Lay tough boards under, to keep your
axe out of the rocks (after a couple of logs, there'll be
plenty of juggles to pad the ground underneath). Early
hewers set the log up high on blocks and hewed almost
straight down with the broadaxe, which had a short
(two-foot) handle for precision. I like the later three-
foot handles, which I usually make myself, because
you get more swing and take off more wood at a stroke.
The longer handle does require more accuracy.
The log to be hewed was often held in place by a log hewing dog. First
it was scored (notched), sometimes to a snapped chalk line, then sec-
tions (juggles) were sliced off with the broadaxe.
